This invention relates to the field of television and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for simultaneously displaying video programs and related text on a television screen.
For a number of years television receivers have been equipped with picture-in-picture (PIP) capability. In PIP format, the moving, real time images of one television channel are displayed on the background of the screen and the moving, real time images of another television channel are displayed in a PIP window overlaid on a small area of the background. Because two channels are simultaneously displayed by the television receiver, two tuners are required. The viewer enters the PIP mode by pressing a PIP key of his or her controller. Then, the viewer can change either the channel of the background or the channel of the PIP by resetting the appropriate tuner. To reverse the background and PIP images, the viewer simply presses a SWAP key. To collapse the PIP window, the viewer again presses the PIP key.
Television program guides help television viewers select programs to watch. Such television program guides list the available television programs by day of the week, time of day, channel, and program title. For many years television program guides have been published in hard copy form. More recently, as illustrated by Levine Patent U.S. Pat. No. 4,908,713, television program guides have begun to take an electronic form. In other words, the schedule of program listings is stored in an electronic memory connected to the television receiver. The program listings are recalled from memory by the viewer on command for display on the television screen.
Despite the prevalence of television program guides, many viewers still make their program selections by switching the television tuner from channel to channel and observing on the screen what program is being received on the respective channels. This process is sometimes called xe2x80x9cgrazing.xe2x80x9d
Emanuel Patent U.S. Pat. No. 5,161,019 discloses an automated form of channel grazing. A preselected group of channels are sequentially scanned by switching the tuner of the television receiver from channel to channel. A still image of the program received on each channel is stored in a memory. After all the channels have been scanned, the still images from all the channels are simultaneously displayed on the television screen. This process gives the viewer more information about the program choices in addition to that obtainable from a television program guide, namely, the displayed still images of the actual programs.
According to the invention, the moving images of a television program are displayed in a PIP window on the screen of a television monitor and textual information related to the television program is displayed in the background on the screen. Preferably, the audio portion of the television program displayed in the PIP window is also reproduced by the sound system of the television monitor. The textual information is arranged on the screen so none of it is covered by the moving images.
In one embodiment, the textual program related information is a television program schedule. One of the program listings of the schedule identifies by title and time and/or channel the television program in the PIP window, which comprises moving images.
To facilitate channel grazing, a television viewer can use a PIP format for display of current television program listings from a program schedule data base in the background and moving, real time images of a program selected from the displayed listings in the PIP window. Specifically, as the viewer selects a particular program from the displayed current television program listings by means of a cursor or a code number, the corresponding program automatically appears in the PIP window. In this way, the viewer can channel graze by sequentially selecting the individual program listings in the background. When the viewer finds a program that the viewer wishes to watch, the viewer leaves the PIP format and returns to full screen television viewing, the tuner already being set to the desired program. To do this the viewer can reverse the background and PIP window and then collapse the window, leaving the desired program on the full screen or the apparatus can be configured to return to full screen viewing in a single step.
To permit the viewing of programs scheduled for future broadcast without losing sight of the current program being watched, a television viewer can use a PIP format for display of television program listings for a specific channel or a specific time from a program schedule data base in the background and moving, real time images of the current program on that channel in the PIP window. Specifically, as the viewer changes channels, the current program on that channel automatically appears in the PIP window. Alternatively, the programs scheduled for future broadcast can be formatted by category. The viewer can control the background to display program listings for a period of days, e.g. a week, in the future. In this way, the viewer can continue to watch a television program while ascertaining the future programs on the channel to which the television tuner is set. When the viewer finds a program that the viewer wishes to watch, the background disappears, leaving the program on the channel to which the tuner is set on the full screen.